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Unified Intelligence Taskforce
History Roots and Predecessors There was an early 20th century counterpart, called LONGBOW. This world security organisation was set up by the UN precursor, the League of Nations. LONGBOW dealt with the occasional extraterrestrial incident, but was disbanded after it, and the League, failed to prevent World War II. (NA: Just War) The roots of the organisation itself, however, lay in previous alien encounters. The Intrusion Countermeasures Group headed by Group Captain Ian Gilmore, which got involved in the Shoreditch Incident, served as a specialised military force with scientific assistance would seem almost a trial run for UNIT, though not an international organisation. Though Gilmore did have two scientific advisors (serving a function much like third incarnation of the Doctor and Dr. Elizabeth "Liz" Shaw would serve later), the seventh incarnation of the Doctor did most of the work, here, on the technical end. (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks) A second significance was the takeover of London by the Great Intelligence, using robot Yetis and a deadly cobweb-like fungus. Assisted by the Doctor, another group of British infantrymen, led this time by Colonel Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart of the Scots Guards beat back the Yeti from the tunnels of the London Underground. (DW: The Web of Fear) UNIT themselves would later consider this to be the main origin of the organisation. (WEB: unit.org.uk) 20th Century Formation The United Nations was by now ever more aware that the world faced threats from extraterrestrial sources and that with the space programme sending probes deeper and deeper into space, mankind had drawn attention to itself (DW: Spearhead from Space). Unable to get the British government to form a permanent special operations force for alien threats, Lethbridge-Stewart went over their heads to the UN Security Council, who proved more receptive. (MA: Who Killed Kennedy) The UN established UNIT with the mandate to investigate, monitor and combat such threats. At the suggestion of Gilmore from the ICMG (MA: The Scales of Injustice), Lethbridge-Stewart was promoted to the rank of Brigadier and put in charge of the British contingent, organisationally known as Department C19 within the British government (DW: Time-Flight). The Lethbridge-Stewart Years One of UNIT's first missions was an intensive invesigation of International Electromatics; this turned violent, with UNIT agents being eliminated during invesigations and UNIT itself launching a helicopter raid to liberate prisoners at an Electromatics' facility. With the help, again, of the Doctor, UNIT discovered the company was a front for a Cybermen invasion and was able to defend against it. (DW: The Invasion). Following this, Lethbridge-Stewart became convinced of the necessity of scientific advice in battling extraterrestrial threats, and recruited Liz Shaw from the University of Cambridge. Coincidentally, the Doctor, now in his third form, had been exiled to Earth by the Time Lords. The Doctor agreed to join UNIT as its Scientific Advisor just in time to help defeat the Autons (DW: Spearhead from Space). When the Doctor's exile was lifted (DW: The Three Doctors), his association with UNIT became more sporadic, especially after his regeneration into his fourth incarnation. (DW: Planet of the Spiders, Robot) Though the Doctor did return to Earth with Sarah Jane Smith, he would work less and less with the Brigadier and more with such other officers as Colonel Faraday (the Brigadier having gone to Geneva) (DW: The Android Invasion) and Major Beresford (DW: The Seeds of Doom). The Doctor, however, never officially left UNIT. (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem) As a United Nations group, UNIT often saw use as security at peace conferences (DW: Day of the Daleks, The Mind of Evil) and the British contingent had foreign soldiers such as Sergeant Zbrigniev (DW: Battlefield). UNIT would often face hostility in its operations, particularly when investigating research facilities and companies. A common tactic used against UNIT were appeals by administrators to any contacts they had in the Westminster government, which either forced Lethbridge-Stewart to back down or go over the government's heads to Geneva. (DW: The Invasion, The Green Death) After Lethbridge-Stewart Lethbridge-Stewart retired in 1976 and went to teach mathematics at Brendon School. He was succeeded by Colonel Charles Crichton (DW: The Five Doctors). At some stage, Benton and medical officer Harry Sullivan also left (DW: Mawdryn Undead). The Doctor re-united, in his seventh incarnation, against an invasion by Morgaine and her armoured knights. The British contingent was commanded by the younger Brigadier Winifred Bambera. Lethbridge-Stewart was called out of retirement to assist Bambera and the Doctor. (DW: Battlefield) This version of the Doctor would, again, assist the UNIT officer Muriel Frost in the late 1990s in their struggle against the Mandragora Helix. (DWM: The Mark of Mandragora, Evening's Empire) At some point in the late 20th, early 21st century, a book on the history of UNIT was published (though it's not known how much if any information on the organization's activities is included). (SJA: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?) The 21st Century 2000's General Trends Simultaneously, in the name of "homeworld security", UNIT adopted a questionable attitude towards civil rights and liberties, which the Doctor found disquieting (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem). UNIT maintained a secret prison. Here a small number of detainees could be held without charges needing to be pressed or without the usual rights of prisoners. This suggested UNIT has a somewhat more malevolent side than other recorded encounters may suggest. Among those kept at one time as prisoner by UNIT was Toshiko Sato in 2005 or 2006; she was only released when Jack Harkness and Torchwood 3 convinced her to work for them (TW: Fragments). In at least the late 20th and early 21st centuries, UNIT maintained a small division based in the United States, led by Brigadier General Adrienne Kramer. (EDA: Vampire Science) At some stage prior to the 2009 Sontaran invasion, UNIT changed its name from United Nations Intelligence Taskforce to Unified Intelligence Taskforce. UNIT retained its traditional logos, however, even though they displayed the now-technically incorrect initialization "U.N.I.T." (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem) Specific Events At some point, the UK division of UNIT was facing being shut down and replaced with domestic group ICIS (Internal Counter-Intelligence Service). When it became clear ICIS were brutal and dangerous, Lethbridge-Stewart and Colonel Emily Chaudry deliberately revealed UNIT's remit to the press (stating UNIT had faced over 200 invasions) and the existence of Silurian ambassadors; while this was viewed as a hoax, it forced the government to leave UNIT in charge of alien matters, leading to uneasy co-existence with ICIS. (BFA: The Coup) Unknown to UNIT, their leader Colonel Brimmicombe-Wood was an ICIS plant who had been deliberately groomed to assume leadership of their rival. (BFA: The Wasting) ICIS' involvement in an attempted coup (BFA: The Longest Night) and murderous attempts at framing UNIT (BFA: The Wasting) led to their shutdown, however; in the process UNIT thwarted the coup and stopped a worldwide pandemic, unfortunately losing temporary commander Colonel Robert Dalton in the process. Colonel Chaudry was given command of the UK contingent. :The position was later handed to Colonel Alan Mace under unknown circumstances. Before 2006, UNIT had been involved in multiple situations without the Doctor, including the Fourth Reich, the Guatemala "big locust" Problem, Operation Plainsong, the Skaniska Incident and the Jersey Tollgate Situation. 2005 saw the organisation increase its New York presence centered around a New York Liason Office, allowing immediate UNIT briefing of the UN General Assembly. They also had been hosting annual conferences for several years. An officer named Major Jenny Maguire had had previous experience with the Doctor, who had annoyed her in unknown circumstances. (http://www.unit.org.uk and http://www.unit.org.uk/secure/, password "badwolf"). In 2006, UNIT sent a delegation to a gathering of experts to 10 Downing Street in response to a spaceship crashing in the River Thames. All of the experts were electrocuted by the family Slitheen. The identities of the advisors killed were not known, although one woman officer bore the name "Frost" on her jacket. (DW: Aliens of London) By this time, UNIT and the Torchwood Institute were aware of each other. UNIT asked for the assistance of Torchwood 3's Owen Harper during this incident (TW: Fragments). Toshiko Sato would fill in for him. (TW: Fragments) :The female officer killed in action may or may not have been Muriel Frost. In Christmas 2006, UNIT had a command center located in the Tower of London which was under the command of Major Richard Blake (DW: The Christmas Invasion). UNIT maintained some contact with Torchwood 3, even after the Battle of Canary Wharf. Torchwood 3's leader, Jack Harkness, would occasionally confer with the heads of UNIT and once asked for and received the help of Martha Jones, a medical doctor and former companion of the Doctor's, who he and the Doctor had suggested for a position with UNIT. (TW: Reset) By 2008 UNIT operated a floating aircraft carrier airship, the Valiant, which was mainly designed by British Minister of Defense (actually the latest incarnation of the Master) Harold Saxon. (DW: The Sound of Drums/ Last of the Time Lords) Sarah Jane Smith remained in friendly contact with UNIT, leading to its involvement in cleaning up a Slitheen plot. (SJA: Revenge of the Slitheen) Prior to the 2009 Sontaran invasion, Martha Jones, an ex-companion of the Doctor was tasked with alerting him about it when the preparations for the invasion were discovered (DW: The Sontaran Strategem). Apparently, now-Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart still had some involvement with UNIT at this time, though he had gone to Brazil for undisclosed reasons (DW: The Poison Sky). Following the defeat of the Sontarans, UNIT began reverse-engineering some technology scavenged from the aliens, and launched Project Indigo to create a backpack-sized teleportation device. Jones was seconded as medical advisor for the project (which was top secret, although Harkness found out about it), and stationed at UNIT's base in New York City. UNIT also developed a contingency plan called the Osterhagen Project; in the event of global conquest that seemed unending, three out of five UN facilities would end humanity's suffering by destroying the planet with nuclear weaponry under Earth's crust. (DW: The Stolen Earth/''Journey's End'') Following the relocation of the Earth and two-dozen other planets to the Medusa Cascade, UNIT went on high alert, and then to a war footing as the Dalek invasion began. Both the Valiant and the New York headquarters were overrun by Daleks and apparently destroyed, and the United Nations surrendered soon after. Martha Jones, however, escaped using the Project Indigo device, maintaining possession of an Osterhagen key in the process. (DW: The Stolen Earth) She used Project Indigo to reach the Osterhagen Station in Germany. The Chinese and Liberian stations had been already activated. She was teleported away by the Daleks themselves before the bombs could be triggered. The Doctor later asked her to have the Project dismantled, though whether she was successful in doing so is unknown). (DW: Journey's End) At Christmas 2009, UNIT were caught up in a Magnet Warrior invasion, which they stopped with the Doctor, and his new companion Georgia Bell. Colonel Mace, Captain Price and Captain Gifford led the operation. (DW: Georgia and the Magnet Warriors) During the Octopli invasion, UNIT was attacked for their Hudson, which could be used as a weapon against the Octopli. They managed to destroy the Octopli, at the cost of a few members. (DW: Cold Case) Colonel Mace tried to contact the Doctor with information on the Magnet Warriors, but it was cut off by Commander Marr, leader of the Magnet Warriors. (DW: Slitheen School) UNIT supervised the operation of the Spidership, which had many important celebrities on board. Captain Price was captured by the Daleks, and UNIT went to war with the Magnet Warriors, before boarding the lifeboats back to England. (DW: The Spidership/ Betrayal and Death) During Easter 2010 UNIT was called out to a tunnel near Brixton after a bus carrying the Doctor and other passengers had gone through a Wormhole. The Doctor managed to contact UNIT and he got through to the senior officer of site Captain Erisa Magambo and also spoke with their scientific advisor Professor Malcolm Taylor. The Doctor manged to get the bus back to its current location but the Swarm managed to get through to Earth. Magambo and UNIT fought the stingrays, which resulted in UNIT winning and she later thanked the Doctor. The Doctor also recommended to Magambo that there might be two more potential UNIT recruits from the bus, namely Barclay and Nathan. (DW: Planet of the Dead) Beyond the 21st century By the 26th century, and Human expansion into the galaxy, UNIT has evolved into a secret society called the Unitatus. (MA: Cold Fusion) Unitatus survived at least until the 30th century (NA: So Vile a Sin) :Also in the 26th century, Bernice Summerfield (who had assisted the original UNIT, encountered an organisation called the Knights of Jeneve. The Knights may or may not be connected with UNIT, given that "Jeneve" appears to be a corruption of "Geneva". The Knights were founded in the 23rd century. (BNA: Dragons' Wrath) Alternate Timeline Versions *The Doctor visited one timeline in which humans had made peace with the Silurians after the Wenley Moor affair. In this universe, United Races Intelligence Command or URIC had replaced UNIT. An alternative version of Muriel Frost headed the organisation, following the death of the Brigadier in a bomb attack; this world's Doctor was killed in the same attack. (DWM: Deadly Genesis) *Another alternate outcome of the Wenley Moor incident saw the Silurians conquer Earth, with the remnants of UNIT fighting a vicious insurgency against them. (NA: Blood Heat) *In another timeline, the Doctor's TARDIS materialised in Hong Kong in 1997 where a retired Brigadier was now living. The absence of the Doctor had left UNIT alone to face off against threats to Earth; while Earth had not fallen, the damage and chaos on Earth had been extensive, and the Brigadier was seen as a paranoid joke. For a number of years, a trapped Master had acted as a UN Scientific Advisor. (DWU: Sympathy for the Devil) *A deliberately altered timeline saw UNIT fighting a counter-insurgency against a British anarchist terrorist group named Black Star. A plainclothes division named Broadsword had been created. (NA: No Future) *In several possible future timeline, UNIT is replaced further into the 21st Century. In one, it's replaced by the more militant UNISYC (United Nations Intelligence Security Yard Corps). (EDA: Alien Bodies) In another, it is superceded by the global military PRISM. (PDA: The Indestructible Man) *In Donna's World, UNIT soldiers retrieved the dead body of the Doctor following the Christmas Star incident, and later a division of UNIT worked with Rose Tyler to reverse-engineer the TARDIS and allow Donna Noble to go back in time and restore the proper timeline. (DW: Turn Left) Category:Ally of the Second Doctor Category:Ally of the Third Doctor Category:Ally of the Fourth Doctor Category:Ally of the Fifth Doctor Category:Ally of the Seventh Doctor Category:Ally of the Eighth Doctor Category:Ally of the Ninth Doctor Category:Ally of the Tenth Doctor Category:Ally of Torchwood Category:Ally of Sarah Jane Smith